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BLUE TULIP AWARDS

Accelerates startup innovations

The Blue Tulip Awards is a year-round ecosystem-driven program aiming to accelerate innovators, build powerful collaborations and drive breakthrough innovation. We provide startups and innovators with a clear call to arms: connecting eight inspiring, issue-based themes with new ideas that have immense potential to transform our future. By driving collaboration between the brightest minds and accelerating the most promising innovations to reach their full potential, we can start improving the way the world works and lives right now.

Join the 2020 program

Empower innovation. Empower the future.

As an innovator, you’re not just dreaming of a better future – you’re building it. Your vision will help transform the way we live and work, and paving the way for a brighter tomorrow. But getting there isn’t easy. Revolutionary ideas need all the support they can get. Joining the Blue Tulip Awards will get you that support, allowing you to:

Connect

Scale Up

Accelerate

... through sharp lectures and hands-on workshops from the Scale Up Academy.

Learn

... from influential jury members through individual and group feedback on your business.

Exposure

... through our social channels, website, media partners, and the entire ecosystem.

The Blue Tulip prizes

The Blue Tulip Awards journey is marked by four main events. Each event rewards and brings the participants one step closer to the first prize. With the eight innovation themes, eight remarkable concepts will be named the Blue Tulip Awards winners.

QUARTER-FINALISTS TOP 25

your benefits

Receive valuable feedback from partners and fellow innovators

Speed date with the jury relevant to your innovation

Receive two tickets to the Accenture Innovation Summit

SEMI-FINALISTS TOP 10

your benefits

Previous benefits

Receive expert feedback from theme specific jury members

Get ongoing personal coaching from a qualified jury member

FINALISTS TOP 5

your benefits

Previous benefits

Pitch your innovation at the Accenture Innovation Summit

Network with social entrepreneurs, business entrepreneurs and corporate innovators

Road to the finals

The Blue Tulip Awards program is far more than just a competition—it’s a journey. From the moment you register your innovation until the day of the finals, you will have many opportunities to connect with potential investors, learn from thought leaders and meet other innovators.

All registrations must be made before November 17, on which registrations close. After this, the jury members will be researching your innovations and themes.
Read more

9

January

Class of 2020

The Class of 2020 invites all innovators and network partners of the Blue Tulip Awards on January 9, to celebrate the start of a new year and jumpstart the innovation journey.Read more

13

February

Quarterfinals

The quarterfinals invite the top 25 innovators per each theme to network with the entire innovation ecosystem of partners, jury members and innovators. On this day, contestants have the chance to convince the jury of their ideas during a speed dating session. Then, the jury will select the 10 most innovative concepts per each theme. The following debate allows all innovators to come together, discuss and find solutions for the global challenges surrounding our eight themes.Read more

12

March

Semifinals

On March 12, the semifinals brings together the top 10 innovators per theme for a theme-related talk show. The talk show will raise issues with the topics based on the jury’s selection criteria, after which innovators can defend their concepts through conversation and a Q&A session. Following a closing pitch, the jury decides on the five concepts that make it to the finals.Read more

17

April

Finals

The Blue Tulip Awards reaches its peak on April 17, when finals are held at the Innovation Summit. Final pitches are held for jury members, partners and influential thought leaders at the Pitch Arena. Then, an interactive Q&A session with the audience and jury, hand finalists one last chance to win over the jury to achieve the ultimate goal: becoming the best innovation in the Netherlands.Read more

Innovation Themes

The Blue Tulip Awards revolve around the eight issue-based themes, inspired by global challenges that will define our future.

Newest participants

What past participants say...

Looking ahead is an essential part of innovation, but so is learning from the past. Read stories from former contestants and learn from their program experiences.

SAFENED

"The program gave us a lot of positive publicity and concrete opportunities with big new clients. The ultimate lesson is that we can talk endlessly about how amazing our product is but explaining the essence in one minute is the most important."

Latest News

News

Following the footsteps of the Accenture Innovation Awards, to accelerate top innovations and develop a stronger, more collaborative ecosystem, the Blue Tulip Awards seeks to identify impactful changemakers to help scale up ground-breaking innovations.